3 Reasons Why Pushing Your Religion Is A Bad Idea

All of us hold a world-view, a picture in our minds about how the world works and what is real or unreal. When you come across somebody who has a different picture in their mind you have various options about how you share your differences in world-view.

Today I want to suggest that pushing your particular view of religious ideas onto other people is probably not a cool idea.

Whether you are Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, Pagan, or Atheist the same general principle applies. We no longer live in an era where it is considered acceptable to conquer somebody’s country and impose our belief systems. Whatever the scale, from countries down to the talking-space at the bar, pushing your religion is a bad idea.

1. The Truth is Out There? If so, it’s not obvious.

What is truth?

If you claim to have it, how can you show me that you are right? How can I know that you are not some deluded nutter who thinks they have the answers but who is actually not living in the same world as me?

Simply telling me your “truth” and that I am wrong is not going to be terribly persuasive. It’s really the argumentative style of the school playground to simply state something as truth and then expect others to bow to it.

Whenever I get talking to other Christians who, having not met me, don’t realise that I am also a Christian there almost inevitably ends up being a moment when they try to assert some basic “truth” of the Gospel. Perhaps it’s the idea that God has spoken definitively about abortion in the Bible, or that tithing (giving 10% of your income to the Church) is divinely mandated, or how terrible it is that folk don’t get their children “Christened” any more.

For me, given the nature of each of those questions, I find myself wondering, “Really?”

Has God (in the Christian sense) really spoken definitively on those issues? Because I don’t think He has… and the moment I think that, I am also tempted to think that you haven’t really thought about it nearly enough to believe otherwise. Yes, I am perhaps wrong to give in to that temptation… but what other option have you given me?

2. Closed Statements Demonstrate Closed Mindedness.

A closed statement is a viewpoint that brooks no discussion. (Like that one…)

Allow me to rephrase:

In my experience it is generally the case that when someone makes a definitive statement they leave me no space for discussion or input. It is then quite likely that my most likely response will be to either argue with them or, more often, opt for silence and the judgement that this person is a closed-minded bigot.

How do you respond to this kind of statement?

“Faith-heads are all people who need a crutch to help them get through life. They need to wise up, get real, and start living in the real world.”

“New Age boffs are all a bunch of dreamers who don’t have the courage to make a solid decision about what they believe.”

“Atheists are intellectually arrogant yet, on the whole, can’t understand that you can’t prove a negative. Where do they get off?”

Except that they do. I’ve heard it myself… and I have probably uttered similar things at one time or another too. If you’re a human being then you’ve probably done it as well.

This kind of thing is pushy, disrespectful, and out to get you labelled as… well… something not nice.

There is another way. You could encourage a discussion instead.

“What I’ve always struggled with in relation to faith is the fact that, throughout my own life, I’ve never felt the need to lean on any god or stuff like that. But then, is that what it’s really all about?”

“Given that the Qur’an tells me how to live my life, I don’t really understand the value in seeking out different religious practices from other cultures. How has this helped you in your own faith?”

“I’ve always found it hard to understand how being an Atheist is any different from making any other faith choice. How did you come to the conclusion that there definitely is no god?”

Yeah. I know. It’s not something that happens much, is it.

3. Spamming Is Annoying

A friend of mine mentioned that, the other day, they had been “spammed” on their blog by some Christian-style organisation. The inference was that my friend had been told, in no uncertain terms, why they were wrong. I’m guessing that my friend chose not to publish the comment.

It doesn’t matter who you are or what the context is, really – you need to ask yourself what right you have to push your own views onto somebody else. An unsolicited opinion is the inter-personal equivalent of spamming. It’s unwelcome, it doesn’t enrich the experience of the recipient, and it gets you labelled.

Please don’t post spammy comments on blogs. Try to avoid “spamming” the conversations other people are having. And finally, don’t sit there in your armchair and try to tell me how stupid I am for seeking after the Divine.

Have you considered how the other person would feel? Are you going to give them a chance to speak too? Are you prepared to listen?

As far as I am concerned, it seems reasonable to assume that there is far more to learn from other people’s different world-views than there is in trying to smash them apart.

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4 Thoughts on “3 Reasons Why Pushing Your Religion Is A Bad Idea”

Good read. I’d add a fourth, which is adverse reactions. We live in a world where everything is being pushed upon you all the time yet it is mostly questionable if any of it is of any benefit to you, a form of negative freedom if you will. There is a natural set of reactions that have now evolved, being apathy, stonewalling or violence (mostly … See moreverbal). Trying to “sell” a religion puts you in the same category as pushy salesmen, cold callers and really annoying street marketers. You can’t “spread the word of the Lord” if you have already closed people’s ears before you have said more than a couple of words.
Years ago, American Evangelical Christians cottoned onto what was, at the time, the best aspects of psychological manipulation to encourage a variety of positive reactions. This has inevitably backfired giving them a terrible perception to even their fellow christians. Surely now is the time for religions to take the passive, exemplary route and show people the way, instead of trying to forcibly drag them there?

Whilst I don’t disagree with the ideas or sentiments in this piece, I find the idea somewhat flawed in a religious context.

All religions have a dogma and that dogma is filled with closed statements. From “There is a God” down to “Never eat pork”, the dogma will claim to have the answers and the religion will drum those messages into their followers as often as they can.

Encouraging discussion of a topic in the general population is a certainly more effective way of spreading the word than repeating one’s chosen dogma but it is a deceptive practice. A classic bait-and-switch that lures the person seeking answers into the religion which will then starts teaching its unquestionable closed statements.

None of this precludes the use of discussion and debate in an individual’s search for meaning, whether it is theistic or non-theistic but the use of this technique to promote a specific religion is underhand, manipulative and unethical.

@Chris: Thanks for sharing your view. I have to confess that, while I understood your premise, I did not follow through the logic of your conclusion.

Are you suggesting that holding a dogmatic, definite view but inviting discussion is manipulative and underhand?
If so, I’m not sure how that works out in practice.

You seem to be suggesting that the honest and ethical means to promoting a religious idea is to bludgeon folk with your dogma. The problem within religious circles is that there is very little dogma that all members of any faith group would agree on. Religion is, by its very nature, a mix of ideas and experiences which merit exploration and discussion. Only the most terrifying and self-righteous of religious zealots would claim to hold absolute truth to the exclusion of all other knowledge.

My own suggestion has been to invite folk into dialogue… not to trick them, or to lie to them. Far from it.

What we think we understand about other world-views is usually very much less than we would care to admit. Learning about something does not mean you have to adopt what you discover… it just invites you to see things from the other point of view. Understanding can lead to tolerance and respect for other ideas. What is so deceptive, unethical, and underhand about that?